Mount Sublette

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I was at this same spot on July 10, 2007. A friend and I tried climbing Sublette Peak but couldn't get closer than about 100' from the summit without running into dangerously rotten cliff bands that I might not even tackle with a rope. We had fog all around us and eventually gave up searching for a safe way up. It was fun while it lasted, though.

Did you find a way to the top or did you just hike up here for the views? And when exactly were you there?

Mid August, if memory serves. Yeah, I found a way, but it was pretty grim. I don't think there IS a decent route up that crumbling north face. I had to pull some funky 5.3/4ish soloing on shit-rock... in some places I was practically kicking steps in the stuff, and it was some of the nastiest rock I've been on. Luckily I'd scoped the peak out and knew if I could make the summit there was a walk off on the other side. Tough little climb - crazy that you were there too!

Well, I'm jealous. Maybe if the weather had been better and we could have seen more than 10-15 yards above us, we'd have found a way up. Or maybe you've just got more guts!

We tried three or four ways, though, always running into the same issue-- Class 5 that we could deal with but rotten crap that we didn't want to be on. At one point, I remember being in a stemming-like position several yards off the ground and knowing I could do the next move but also knowing it would be really bad news if that rock broke while I was at it. In other spots, I remember huge chunks falling out under my hands and feet at times. I don't know how some of that stuff can even be called rock.

I tried scouting a way up from the other side earlier in the morning, but the clouds kept hindering me. It cleared later in the morning, after we were down from the mountain, and we did another peak under perfect afternoon skies.

I made it up to the summit once in the 90's. It was March or April and I snowshoed most of the way. I came up from the SE and followed snowmobile tracks a lot of the way. There was snow on most of the peak, so most of the bad rock was covered. There were a few moves where I had to take the snowshoes off. The summit block, or crumbling block was dry, and it was a little bit of scrambling. The view of Mt Sublette is awesome. I could see without the snow, it would be a tough climb. In spring, you don't have to watch for the neighborhood Grizzlies, as in summer.